Sliding doors and hardware therefor



Nov. 18, 1958 D. B. GRossMAN 2,860,387

sLInING nooRs AND HARDWARE THEREFOR Filed Oct. 17, 1956 N R.Y mw m m5 Wmn -G XA 5m m W ma D Nov. 18, 1958 D. B. GRossMAN 2,850,387 I v SLIDINGDOORS AND HARDWARE THEREFOR Filed Oct. 17, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 DMW/N5.pais/1MM ATTORNEY Nov. 18, 1958l ma. `GRossMAN 2,860,387

SLIDING DOORS AND HARDWARE THEREFOR Filed oct. 17. 195e 4 sheets-sheet sINVENTOR DHPWM/ B. @Pass/1MM RNEY NOV. 18, 1958 D, B GRQSSMAN 2,860,387

SLIDING DOORS AND HARDWARE THEREF'OR Filed Oct. 17, 1956 INVENTORDARW/A/B GPoss/wn/v ATT NEY l United tes Patent .SIEIDING DOORS ANDHARDWARE THEREFOR Darwin B. Grossman, New Rochelle, N. Y.

Application October 17, 1956,;Serial'No. 616,525

12 Claims. (Cl. 20-19) This Vinvention 4relates to .sliding vdoorswhich, when in normally closed position, have their outer surfaces ushwith one another and :lie in the same vertical plane, but which areadapted, when1it is ,desiredto open one .of them, to be moved so thattheir meeting edges arein .oiset relation to permit `either one of themto be moved into open position'back ofthe other.

The sliding doors of this inventon may ,be used-wherever sliding doorsof this general character are desired, but are `particularly 'useful inconnection -with cabinets, closets, wardrobes, and like environs. t

The present invention is an improvement ,on `the subject matter of myrcopending rapplication Serial No. 474,327, led December 10, 11954,v,now yPatent No. 2,819,498, issued January y14, I1958, `and the objectof the invention is to -simplify the prior constructions `and economizein the cost of this hardware andits installation.

Generally speaking, the .present invention comprises aswitching.mechanismpositioned midway of the opening in `whichthe doorsare installed. `A like switching member is preferably employed `at boththe top and bottomofthe door and there arranged in coaxial, verticalrelation. ,The switchingmechanism serves to move .the meeting .ledges.of the doors, when closed, into ush ,relationwhilesthe distant endsofthe doors are guided ori-fixed guides which maybe -in the form oftracks or grooves lat the bottom and top of the door opening. However,stationary guides may be spaced intermediate the ends of the doors andabout which said doors are pivotally moved from flush into offsetrelation and vice versa and thus guided for opening and closingmovements.

The invention embodies numerous ,featuresof novelty all tending toproduce highly efficient constructions, which may be economicallymanufactured,.easily installed and are thoroughly eicient in theperformance of their respective functions.

The accompanying drawings illustrate vdiifolent `practical embodimentsof the invention, but the constructions therein shown is to 'beunderstood as illustrative, only, and not as defining the :limits of theinvention.

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a cabinet equipped with sliding doorsaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 shows the switching system of the present 'invention andconstitutes in effect a horizontal section on the line 2-2 of Fig. lwith the doors in closed positions.

Fig. 3 is a View similar to Fig. 2, but showing the meeting edges of thedoors in offset relation to permit of sliding of the lefthand door backof the righthand door.

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a fragmental view of the lower inner vface of vone door asviewed in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is an exploded view showing the several parts of the switchmechanism separated from one another, so that their individualstructures may be more clearly understood.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the switch mechanism with the parts inassembled relation. The switching mechanism shown in Figs. 6 and 7 visthat illustrated in Figs. l-5 inclusive.

Fig. 8 is a plan view of one of the guide switches shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 9 is a front elevation of the guide switch shown in Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is a plan view vof one of the screw guides shown inFigs. 1-3inclusive.

Fig. 1l is a front elevation of the screw guide of Fig. 10.

Fig. 12 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but illustrating a modified form ofconstruction utilizing recessed tracks or grooves in lieu of the screwguides shown in the previous figures. -InFig. l2the doors are shown inclosed positions.

Fig. 13 isaview similar to Fig. l2, but shows the switching mechanism asit `appears when the doors are in offset positions with the -lefthanddoor ready to be opened.

Fig. `14 is a section on the Iline 114-14 of Fig. 13.

Fig. 15 is a view similar -to Fig. '13 butshows a modified form ofconstruction wherein the guide switches are channeled instead ofprovided with upstanding flanges as in Fig.9.

Fig. 116 is a plan view of the switching mechanism of Fig. l5 with theparts -in closed door positions.

Fig. 17 is a section on line 17-17 of Fig. 16.

Referring lrst to Figs. l-ll of ythe drawings, 1 ldesignates `a cabinetprovided with a ydoor casing 2 having therein a dooropening in-which thedoors'4 andS of this invention are mounted.

Positioned midway of `the width of the cabinet upon the ceiling andfloor of the cabinet and in vertical coaxial relation are a pair ofidentical switch mechanisms. I have not attempted to -show theselmechanisms duplicated at the top and bottom of the door opening, but itwill be understood that they Aare identical with one another.

:Oneof these mechanisms 6 is shownibestin Figs. Zand 7 Aand the several`elements of which .they are yformed are shown separated from oneanother in Fig. `6. In :this latter ligure, 7 designates a base plate.lIt is adapted to be received in a circular recess 8, shown in Fig. v4as formed in the floor or ceiling, :as the case may be, so that plate 7seats therein. It is provided at one side with a perforation in which isseated a spring actuated bullet catch 9, the shell of which is set intothe floor, as shown in Fig. 4, with the ball or bullet 1@ thereofprojecting above the upper surface of said base plate. The .centralportion of the plate is perforated at 11 to receive a screw 12 (Fig. 4).The central portion of said plate is of circular form, so that itsoppositeedges 13 clear the heads 14 of rivets 15. These lateral arcuateedges 13 merge into shoulders 16 which form stops for the rivet heads14.

Seated upon and coaxial with the base plate is acircular switch plate 17having a central perforation 18 for `the screw 12. At diametricallyopposite points said switch plate is provided with perforations 19 toreceive the rivets 15 and vthe under side of said switch plate isprovided with circular depressions 2i), 2.1 and 22 adapted Vto cooperate4with the projecting ball 1t) of the bullet catch 9, so as to `lock theswitch plate against inadvertent rotation when placed in any one of thethree positions of which it is susceptible.

superimposed 4upon the switch plate 17 is -a nest plate 23. This platemay be made integral with the plate 17, but is shown as separate andspot welded thereto at 24. lt is of the same overall diameter as theplate 17 and has a registering central opening 25. At each side ofsaidcentral opening are cut outs 26 and in these cut outs are adapted tonest two guide switches 27. These guide switches have base bracketsperforated at 2S to fit over the rivets 15 and said rivets are headedover to secure these base brackets for pivotal movement on said rivetswithin the cut outs 26. Each base bracket has an upstanding tonguecarrying an elongated guide 29. When these parts are assembled as shownin Figs. 7 and 4, the base plate 7 is stationary but the switch plate17, nest plate 23 and guide switches 27 are bodily movable about theaxis of the screw 12 while the two guide switches 27 are pivotalrelative to this assembly and to one another.

The doors 4 and 5 are provided in both their upper and lower edges withlongitudinal slots 30, see Figs. 4 and 5. These slots may be formeddirectly in the top and bottom edges of the doors or by strips securedto the doors. When the parts are assembled, as shown in Fig. 1, with thedoors in closed ush relation, the guides 29 project into these slots atboth the top and bottom of the door to control the relative positions ofthe adjacent or meeting edges of the doors. The more distant portions ofthe doors are guided by stationary front screw guides 31 with elongatedtongues and are of the character shown in Figs. l and 11. These guidesare provided with threaded shanks 32 which are screwed into holes boredin the floor and ceiling. They are arranged so that the heads of saidguides extend into the slots 30 in the top and bottom of the door andabout midway of the width of each door and are so positioned withrespect to the front face of the cabinet that they are equally spacedtherefrom, so that, when the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 2,the doors will be ush with one another with their outer surfacesoccupying the same plane.

When it is desired to open one of said doors from their closed positionsof Fig. 2, pressure may be exerted adjacent the margin of the meetingedge of the door to be opened, so as to push the door in an inwarddirection or optionally a knob 33 adjacent the distant edge of said doormay be drawn forward.

In either case the door thus operated upon Vwill be moved on a verticalaxis with concurrent rotation of the rotatable parts of the switchmechanism so that the meeting edge of the door, for example door 4, isforced inwardly with a concurrent outer movement of the correspondingedge of the door to bring said edges into the offset relation shown inFig. 3. The door 4 may be then slid to the right in Fig. 3 to occupy thedot and dash position, rearwardly and in overlapping relation to thedoor 5. During said movement, the door is guided, as it passes back ofthe door 5, by back screw guides 31a, of the same character as the frontscrew guides hereinbefore described, ywhich engage with the slots 30 inthe door and maintain said door 4 in substantially parallel relation tothe door 5 during the opening movement and thereafter until the door 4is closed, whereupon the operations described are reversed to return thedoors to the closed positions shown in Fig. 2.

In order that the doors be guided throughout their entire openingmovement, each front guide 31 should be spaced from the correspondingside wall of the door opening a distance greater than the spacingbetween the centrally located switching mechanism and the next adjacentback guide 31a and the other side of said switching mechanism. With thisspacing, the door which is opened will be in engagement with both thecorresponding guide switch tongue 29 and the next adjacent back guide31a, before it moves out of engagement with its front guide 31.

It will of course be understood that the door 5 may be operated in thesame manner as the door 4 by pressing or pulling on the door 5 asdescribed, instead of on' the door 4.

It will be noted from Fig. 4 that the upper surface of the nest plate 23is flush with the surface of the oor and if the doors are light, theymay simply slide on the oor of the door opening without the employmentof any anti-friction means. However, if desired, I may associate witheach door an anti-friction wheel 34, one of which is positioned adjacentthe front screw guide 31. These wheels may be used only at the bottom ofthe door or at both the bottom and top of the door.

During the operations described, the bulletcatch cothe preceding gures.

operates with the depressions 20, 21 and 22 in the bottom of the switchplate 17 to facilitate location of the parts. When said parts are in theposition shown in Fig. 2, the bullet catch engages the central recess20. When the parts are as shown in Fig. 3, the bullet catch engages therecess 21 and when the door 5 is to be opened, the bullet catch willengage with the recess 22. Thus the bullet catch serves to immobilizethe switching mechanism during the sliding of the doors, yet theengagement of such catch will readily permit the movement of the doorsfrom ush to oiset positionand vice versa.

The modified form of construction shown in Figs. 12-14 is similar inmany respects to the structure of However, in Figs. 12 and 13 the nestplate 23a is provided with a raised portion or platform 35 havingtherein groove cross tracks 36 and 37, so positioned that, when thedoors are moved into offset relation, as shown in Fig. 2, one of thesegroove tracks will aline with tracks or grooves 38 formed in the oor andceiling of the cabinet. The guide switches 29 are incorporated in thisconstruction as before and they operate in slots 30 in the top andbottom edges of the doors. The rollers 39 project below the floor andare adapted to ride in the track sections 36, 37 and 38, as the case maybe, as clearly appears from Fig. 14. The distant portions of the doorscarry rollers which operate in the grooves 38 and serve to guide thoseportions of the doors. The guide switches 27 move the roller 37 on themeeting edge of the selected door into alinement with the track grooveof the 36 or 37 and, as soon as the door starts to move, said rollerenters the selected track groove 36 or 37 and from there into the track38 serves to guide the door during its opening movement. The tracksections 38 are branched as shown, to provide guides for the individualdoors and there is suicient facial clearance between each roller 40 andthe track groove 38 in the cabinet to permit pivotal movement of theserollers as the door is moved into and out of flush relation by theswitching mechanism. v

The construction of Figs. 12-14 may be duplicated at both the top andbottom of the door opening or the different door guide means shown inthe several figures of the drawings may be selectively used in eitherlocation.

The modified form of construction shown in Figs. 16 and 17 does notrequire grooves in the door edges. It utilizes groove tracks in thecabinet such as indicated at 38 in Fig. 13, with rollers on the doors tobe guided by said tracks. Thus the switching members 27a of thisconstruction are in the form of ilat discs axially supported on therivets 15a for rotation and across the upper face of each disc is atrack groove 40. As the switch plate 17 and nest plate 2311 are rotated,by pushing or pulling upon the door as hereinbefore described, one ofthe track grooves 40 is moved into alinement with the correspondingtrack groove 36a or 37a, while the latter is alined with the trackgroove 38 of the cabinet. The selected door may then be moved into openposition. During this movement the rollers on the door traverse thetrack grooves and are guided thereby.

The foregoing detailed description sets forth the invention in itspreferred forms, but the invention is to be understood as fullycommensurate with the appended claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim Ias new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A sliding door assembly comprising: a door opening, a pair of doorsin said opening, a switching mechanism positioned centrally of ahorizontal portion of the door opening embodying a rotary switchingmember having thereon relatively rotatable switch guides, engagingwiththe meeting portions of the doors to permit movement of the meetingedges thereof from flush to offset relation and vice versa with rotationof said rotary switching member and concurrent rotation of both switchguides, stationary front guides positioned on said horizontal portion ofthe door opening laterally of the switching member to engage with andmaintain the doors in the same plane when the meeting edges of saiddoors are in flush relation, `and stationary back guides also mounted onsaid horizontal portion of the door opening laterally of the rotaryswitching member in divergent relation to the front guides andcooperable with the corresponding switch guide to guide a selected doorinto open positio-n back of the other door and substantially parallelthereto after the meeting edges of said doors have been moved intooffset relation.

2. A sliding door assembly as in claim l, wherein there are switchingmechanisms and front and back guides at both upper and lower horizontalportions of the door opening.

3. A sliding door assembly as in claim 1, wherein the horizontal edgesof the doors are provided with longitudinal slots, and the switch guidesand front and back guides have tongues extending into said slots.

4. A sliding door assembly as in claim 3, comprising anti-frictionrollers on the doors to facilitate lateral movement thereof.

5. A sliding door assembly as in claim 3, wherein each front guide isspaced from the corresponding side wall of the door opening a distancegreater than the spacing between the switching mechanism and the nextadjacent back guide and the other side of said switching mechanism.

6. A sliding door assembly as in claim 1, wherein the switching membercomprises a centrally pivoted switch plate with the switch guidespivoted on the opposite sides of the axis thereof and provided withupstanding tongues for engagement with the doors.

7. A sliding door assembly as in claim 1, wherein the switching membercomprises a centrally pivoted switch plate with the switch guidespivoted on the opposite sides of the axis thereof and provided withtrack grooves to receive rollers on the respective doors.

8. A sliding door assembly as in claim 1, wherein the front and backguides comprise tracks which diverge from one another on each of theopposite sides of the switching mechanism.

9. A sliding door assembly as in claim 8, wherein the tracks are in theform of stationary grooves in the door opening.

10. A sliding door assembly as in claim 9, wherein each door is providedwith rollers operable within and guided by said grooves.

11. A sliding door assembly as in claim 10, wherein the switchingmechanism is provided with switching grooves adapted to be selectivelyalined with the stationary grooves through rotation of the rotaryswitching member, and the switch guides are also provided with groovesadapted to be selectively alined with the switching grooves when thedoors are moved into offset relation, the rollers on the doors beingoperable within all of the corresponding grooves.

12. A sliding door assembly as in claim 1, wherein the front and backguides comprise elongated tongues with threaded Shanks screwed into thehorizontal portion of the doorway.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 197,813Beard Dec. 4, 1877 1,515,091 Brower et al. Nov. 11, 1924 2,778,051 MenzJan. 22, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 714,761 France Nov. 19, 1931

